US Vice President Vance casts tie-breaking vote as Senate rejects bill to block Trump tariffs

The measure brought in the Senate was vying to revoke the national emergency imposed by President Trump as the basis for charging 10% global tariffs on all its trading partners and even higher reciprocal tariffs on 57 other trading partners, including the European Union (EU).

The resolution failed in a 49-49 vote as two senators, who were poised to vote for the resolution, GOP Senator Mitch McConnell and Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse remained absent and hence it couldn’t pass. Republicans currently control the Senate with a 53-47 majority.

Democrats were able to receive support from three Republican senators to pass the resolution. A few weeks ago, four Republican senators had joined Democrats to pass a bill that terminated new tariffs on Canada.

Since two senators, who were supposed to vote for the bill remained absent during voting, it was certain that the resolution would be taken up for vote on another date.

However, Thune called for a second vote to block the measure by tabling it and called up Vice President Vance to Capitol Hill to cast a tie-breaking vote and succeeded in killing the resolution with a 50-49 vote.

“Leader Thune and Senate Republicans tonight voted to keep the Trump tariff-tax in place. They own the Trump tariffs and higher costs on America’s middle-class families,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, Reuters reported.